Background

1. Scotland's Economic Strategy (Scottish Government, 2015) sets
out the Scottish Government's purpose "
to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all
of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic
growth". One of the four priorities of the strategy is
Inclusive Growth, with a focus on addressing long-standing barriers
to
equality and diversity in the labour market.

2. With Scotland's first gender balanced cabinet, the First
Minister has challenged all public, private, and third sector
organisations to commit to take action on gender inequality with
the launch of a voluntary
Partnership for Change commitment to achieve a 50/50 gender balance on boards by
2020.

3. Partnership for Change builds on the ongoing work of the
Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme. The programme has
three strands:

Strand 1 - To improve the percentage of women and other
under-represented groups in leadership roles in Scotland, by
fostering an enabling environment and securing a commitment to
improved diversity by 2020.

Strand 2 - To make Ministerial public appointments more
diverse reflecting broadly the general population in Scotland by
2020.

Strand 3 - To make Scottish Government's senior leadership
more diverse reflecting broadly the general population in
Scotland by 2020.